Wedding Photography
April 19, 1952 The Wedding of Rosalie Marie Gagliardo & James Robert Austin
In 1952, (60+ years ago) my Mother and Father were married ~ April 19. I love my Mother and Father and everything they have given me. Most significant being their love and a family. I wasn't born, or even a twinkle in my parent's eyes, as my mother would have said when they were married. I feel like I was there for every minute of the day. Let me take you back there and explain how that happened. My Mom, Rosalie Marie Gagliardo, was the only daughter of strong proud Italian Immigrants ~ Dominica and Andrew Gagliardo. She was the second born of 4. No sisters, but she had three doting hunky, strong loving, italian brothers. Let's say she was well loved, taken care of and adored! (not only by her parents and brothers, but by my father also).
She and my dad were married at a time when two of her three brothers were active duty Marines. Unfortunately, they were not able to be at the wedding. They were such a close family, that they did everything they could to make sure that my uncles (Mom's brothers) were able to share all the joy of that day. They did this by hiring the best most talented photographers they could find. Remember this was 1952, and photos were mostly black and white. Keeping my Uncles in mind, (much to my benefit later on) they took all the typical wedding photos of the era and went one step further. Look closely at the little "view master" gadget at the bottom right hand corner in the picture. They had 3D photos taken in color! Wow…. They are amazing! The photographer captured every detail and activity of the Wedding. What a treasure!
I am the lucky one and inherited these treasures of my parents when they passed away. These are not only memories of my parent's wedding day, but they are memories from my childhood as well. When I was a young child, I used to pull out the view master and spend hours looking at her beautiful Wedding day, dreaming of my own. I marveled at how beautiful she was and how handsome my dad was. I look at these treasures today and my heart smiles with love. Theirs was a love that gave me life.
There is so much more I want to tell you about these items and what they mean to me, I'll keep it to one, or you would get bored and stop reading. Since I also inherited my Mom's wedding dress with the train to die for, when it came time for my own wedding to Jay, the love of my life ~ I made my dress from the Chantilly Lace of Mom's dress. I will confess here, don't tell anyone~ from the day I found where Mom kept her dress, I used to put it on every now and then and dream of how she felt wearing it and marrying my dad that day. Okay, I actually continued this periodically as an adult up until the day I deconstructed it to make my own treasured wedding dress.
As you are planning a Wedding or a great event in your life, think about the lasting memories you will be able to create through photos! Think also about the technology of the day. While I love the view master with my Mom and Dad's Wedding pictures. It stopped working years ago and I have yet to find a replacement or someone who will repair it. My heart breaks that I haven't been able to show those works of art our family history to my kids! Think about the fact that while digital images are great, in 50 years will you still be able to enjoy them? Probably not if you haven't printed them out. Take the photo's you love that capture the great moments in your life, invest the money to make high quality prints for future generations of your family to love and know they are apart of something great ~ Go out there now and make some beautiful memories.
Hugs! ~J ~ (Jimmy & Rosalie's Daughter)
